This invention refers to an apparatus for rolling raw tortillas into the shape of a xe2x80x9ctaco.xe2x80x9d More specifically, totally automated equipment is provided for the precise and perfectly defined rolling up of small tortillas or flakes of raw dough of nixtamalized corn, which is done in a continuous manner.
At the present, conventional sheeter laminators are employed for the elaboration of tortillas or raw dough flakes of nixtamalized corn. By means of a cutter, various shapes and sizes of tortillas or flakes are made through the design and predetermined molding of the same.
Until before the present invention, the shaping of xe2x80x9ctacosxe2x80x9d beginning with raw flakes or tortillas of nixtamalized corn dough in an automated manner was unknown as the manufacture of such product presented unsolved technical problems. Raw dough xe2x80x9ctacosxe2x80x9d may be of various sizes and thickness, depending on the size and thickness of the tortillas or flakes. The tortilla or flake is rolled up upon itself to acquire the shape of a taco.
The obvious solution to accomplish the rolling up of the raw tortilla has been to make it manually even in light of the problems that such procedure represents. Effectively, however, the manual elaboration of xe2x80x9ctacosxe2x80x9d starting with small tortillas of raw dough of nixtamalized corn does not meet the production expectations to cover a more or less ample market. On an industrial level, production of great volumes of product is necessary. Also, a considerable amount of labor is required resulting in high production costs and therefore low income-yield capability.
Hence, a need exists for a machine for rolling up small tortillas of raw dough of nixtamalized corn adapted for elaborating the food product mechanically in considerable amounts and at adequate speeds to meet industrial production expectations with commercial ends.
To produce small tortillas of raw dough of nixtamalized corn, the prior art teaches the utilization of a conventional sheeter laminator comprising: 1) a hopper for receiving the dough; 2) laminating rollers separated by a very short distance which spin both in the same direction toward the inside; 3) a lower roller with a cutter that gives shape and particular size to the tortillas or flakes unfastened by a device that causes the product not to stick; and 4) on the lower part of the laminator, an exit conveyor.
Attempts have been made to roll up the tortillas or flakes on themselves by placing persons at the sides of the conveyor who rolled up the tortillas manually. However, this is unacceptable as the final shape of the product is limited and is not attractive from the point of view of low production volumes. Manual labor also means high production costs, resulting in an operation with low income-yield capability.
Furthermore, adjustment of the speed of the exit conveyor together with modifications to the rollers is required. The new structure of the laminator eliminates the versatility of such conveyor and renders the laminator incapable of being used afterwards as other types of products requires speeds by which the laminator was redesigned.
Other prior art efforts include the design of a roller capable of spinning while maintaining looseness together with an ability to pivot vertically and thereby allowing for the tortillas being rolled properly on first pass. However, this equipment is very complex, requiring what could amount to an infinity of pieces to accommodate all of the possible positions and is therefore, very expensive and not cost justifiable.
A need exists therefore for an apparatus that is simple in design and substitutes labor with design while performing the same operation without the participation of workers"" hands to produce product at increased production volumes, greater speeds and in less time.
The apparatus of subject invention comprises a sheeter laminator, an exit conveyor, and an acceleration conveyor having a transversal section equal to the exit conveyor. The acceleration conveyor is preferably propelled by a system of generation and transmission of movement. The system of generation and transmission of movement comprises a motor, a reducer, and a transmission guard on the axis of the roller of such acceleration conveyor. The acceleration conveyor has on its sides two housings placed with three rectangular support structures, each having an upper central slit fixed perpendicularly on the housings. Supported in a manner susceptible of being disassembled and transversally with respect to the acceleration conveyor are three shafts. Pending from two of the support structures at both ends, in a manner similar to a swing, is a set of pre-rolling up meshes. From the third shaft, there is pending, in a manner similar to a curtain, a set of final rolling up meshes.
The pre-rolling up meshes have a small surface of contact and drag with respect to the acceleration conveyor. The final rolling up meshes are pending in the form of a curtain and have a greater surface of contact and drag with the acceleration conveyor.
A system of generation and transmission of movement used in connection with the acceleration belt of the acceleration conveyor includes a frequency variator that permits varying the speed of the acceleration conveyor and adjusting the speed of the formed product, depending on the production line.
Hence, a feature of the invention is to produce such product at considerable speeds and at production volumes on a commercial level. Furthermore, the invention provides the ability to shape such product in a single line up to as many as may turn out to be shaped for the total width of operation of the production line.
Moreover, the apparatus of the subject invention is capable of being assembled and disassembled on any conventional laminator of sheeter line at the end of the exit conveyor, without affecting the elaboration of other products of the corn line.
The apparatus of the present invention substitutes the movement and manipulation effected by the human hand to roll up small tortillas of raw dough of nixtamalized corn yielding a final product in the shape of a xe2x80x9ctaco.xe2x80x9d Through use of a roller with the appropriate surface, the same operation is effected, providing the effect and manipulation necessary to be able to roll up such tortillas on themselves.
A mesh is positioned transversally to the exit conveyor of the sheeter laminator, hanging as a curtain and preventing the adherence of the raw dough tortillas or flakes to the mesh. The separation distance at which the raw dough tortillas or flakes come out is determined by the speed of the exit conveyor of the sheeter laminator and must be such that the tortillas or flakes are not too close together, or yielding two, three, or more tortillas at the same time.
To permit the production of elaborate tortillas or flakes of raw dough of nixtamalized corn at greater speeds, the acceleration conveyor at the end of the exit conveyor of the laminator was adapted to work with greater speed, by placing a frequency variator on the motor of such conveyor. This allows for adjusting the speed, making it more precise and providing a greater separation space between the tortillas. An adequate separation space is necessary to permit the precise rolling up of each tortilla or flake individually, thus eliminating the problem of agglutination.
To eliminate inefficiencies of production and malformations of product due to the lack of flexibility of the mesh in the shape of a curtain, a shorten mesh divided into sections improves the rolling up process and represents a considerable loss of raw dough.
In the preferred embodiment, two meshes are used for the rolling up small tortillas. While more meshes may be utilized, two curtains of meshes should provide the ability to obtain one hundred percent of product adequately formed and at the required operation speeds for the shaping of xe2x80x9ctacosxe2x80x9d starting with the precise rolling up on themselves of small tortillas of raw dough of nixtamalized corn, without modifying the sheeter laminator at all, maintaining its versatility and the possibility of using the same line to elaborate other characteristic products in this corn line, with no problem whatsoever.
The apparatus for production of small tortillas of raw dough of nixtamalized corn comprises an acceleration conveyor having an equal transversal section as the exit conveyor of the sheeter laminator, propelled by a system of generation and transmission of movement including a motor having a reducer and a transmission guard to transmit movement to the axis of the roller of such conveyor.
The acceleration conveyor includes a variable acceleration mesh and a housing on each side end. Such housings present a series of rectangular supports with slits on the upper part placed perpendicularly to such housings. Three shafts rest in each of the slits and are placed transversally with respect to the acceleration conveyor. In the two first shafts, a series of individual meshes are attached and pending, suspended on both ends in a manner similar to a swing, each end supported by the other shaft. Such meshes correspond to the pre-rolling up meshes having a small surface for dragging and contacting the mesh of the acceleration conveyor. This permits to fold upward only a small portion of the tortilla or flake. On the third and last shaft and attached from a single end in the shape of a curtain are a series of meshes aligned and in equal number as the aforementioned, which correspond to the final rolling up meshes, with a greater surface for contact and drag with the acceleration conveyor. With the help of the first folding previously effected, the final meshes permit roll up more easily, perfectly, and efficiently such small tortillas of raw dough of nixtamalized corn.
Such equipment has the particularity of implementing or incorporating as many pre-rolling up and final rolling up meshes for small tortillas of raw dough of nixtamalized corn, on the width of the acceleration conveyor, as lines of product are required.
In addition, such equipment has the particularity of being able to withdraw the shafts that support the pre-rolling up and final rolling up meshes of such small tortillas and continue to produce on the line, corn products with similar or different characteristics of the line, and without the need to make modifications to the structure or disassemble the additional equipment such as the acceleration belt, nor the housings with the supports.